Military harassment continues in east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 11:30 GMT]
Police personnel manning the checkpoint in Kaddaiparicchhan, Muttur in the Trincomalee district have again started harassing Tamil youths, local press reports said. People traveling from Muttur East are stopped and questioned at the checkpoint and those not carrying sufficient identification are barred from crossing, the Uthayan reported last week.

The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Kaddaiparichchan and Mallikaitivu in Muttur have often been accused of harassing and torturing Tamil youths. The Amnesty International has reported several cases of severe torture of Tamil men in these camps.

Mutur East, in the southern part of Trincomalee district, also endured a long-term embargo on essential items, such as food, sugar, kerosene, and box of matches.

Meanwhile, the SLA has banned the people in the LTTE controlled Verugal, in the Eachchilampattu division, from taking barbed wire and iron rods to reconstruct their houses. Despite the government's lifting of the economic embargo on LTTE-controlled areas, the soldiers at the Mahindapura camp says special permits from the Government Agent must be produced to allow such items through, Tamil newspapers reported reported.

The troops manning the checkpoint often subject travellers to intrusive body checks and interrogations, and asked them to alight from buses to walk long distances.